Fuckmedrunk, it’s hard being a small business owner. The weekly to-do list rarely has fewer than two-million and three items. And hey, I’ve been doing this copywriting lark and working with small business owners for long enough to know that ‘write blog post’ is job number two-million and two. (Narrowly  beating ‘check analytics’.) 

I get it. I understand why zeroing your inbox, emptying the office bins and replying to that particularly cranky customer all rank higher. And, besides, if the headlines are to be believed, blogging for your business is as much use as an inflatable dartboard. 

Why pour time, energy and budget into a marketing strategy which is, (thanks to the rise of AI), deemed to be dead? Why not simply succumb to the growing perception that among digital marketing strategies, blogging is the old fogey. 

As the argument goes, blogging’s been around since the dawn of the Internet (that’s 40 years, folks), during which time everything has been written. It’s high time it popped on its comfy slippers and took its rightful place in a sunlight-faded floral wingback armchair next to Long Form Direct Mail. 

Except I don’t believe this for a second 

Blogging isn’t dead. Not everything has been written. And AI is not the final nail in the content marketing coffin.

I’m here to counter this argument and call BS on what the cynics are proclaiming. Call me the well-prepped Devil’s Advocate. Because I’ve come armed with stats, quotes, evidence and ideas proving that blogging for your business is still very much a thing to be doing in 2025.

Blogging isn’t dead. It’s just changed a bit 

There are around a gazillion stats and facts on blogging. Look hard enough and you’ll find points that back up every opinion—it’s good, it’s pointless, it’s profitable, it’s been killed by AI. So why buy into the pro-blogging suggestions that I’m about to share?

Say ‘hello’ to The Annual Blogger Survey 

Ten years ago, when I was still living in the UK and working in-house for an adult store, a guy called Andy Crestodina got in touch with me. As the cofounder and CMO of Orbit Media, a web dev and optimisation agency, he was keen to understand more about

• the role blogs played in marketing,
• how effective they were
• and how writers pulled the posts together. 

You’ve gotta remember, a decade ago, content marketing was still fairly fresh. There wasn’t much information about what blog writers were actually doing. And even less about whether what they did met with success or not.

When I asked Andy why exactly he started running the Annual Blogger Survey, he said “It was 2014 and a lot of people were jumping into content marketing. Content Marketing World was breaking attendance records and everybody was publishing long-form guides. “Ultimate Guides” were all the rage.” 

 “Looking at that landscape, I noticed that there was one form of content that was standing out: original research. I wanted in. I wanted to conduct a study. I wanted to make our website the primary source of new data and statistics. So I decided to commit and began planning the blogger survey.”  

I completed the survey. And have contributed to The Annual Blogger Survey pretty much every year since, alongside around 1,000 of my individual blogging peers—actual people, not companies, brands, or groups. 

After 11 years there’s a fuck-ton of data, from which great insights can be pulled, including the nine points I’m sharing here. 

I believe these are the blogging stats you need to act on, if you want the articles you’re publishing on your small business blog to perform. 

9 blog post must-dos that get ‘strong results’ 

Alright, so you’ve committed to blogging. Smart move. Now let’s make sure that when you post an article in this crowded, AI-riddled era, you can be confident it will work hard for your business.

1. Strong results are getting harder to achieve 

Starting out on a downbeat note might make me a bit of a numptie. The last thing I want is to put you off posting blogs, but let’s not ignore the elephant in the room. The survey found that only 20% of bloggers reported getting “strong results” from their posts, meaning it’s tough out there.

As a business blog writer, I can confirm that blogging feels harder. For three reasons. 

The first is the sheer volume of content online. Coming up with fresh ideas can feel tough, particularly if the goal is outranking your competitors. 

In response to this often-expressed fear and frustration, can I just say that even if something has been written about to death, it may not have been expressed in the way you want to write about it for your particular audience.

Secondly, in the decade I’ve been a blog writer, I’ve noticed that what people want from an article has changed. They don’t just want words. They want video, audio, visuals, and more scannable copy. 

Thirdly, to really understand why blogging is tougher, we need to look deeper into how digital content marketing works. This means delving into SEO and how the changes to the way search works (mainly, AI overviews) affect content. 

In my network, no one has more expertise and experience in this subject than my colleague and mate, digital marketing strategist Barb Davids. 

Here’s what she had to say.

Click to read the transcript.

Now we know what’s making it tough out there, let’s take a moment to suck it up, deal with it and crack on with making those blog posts work. 

Strong results are possible. But we need to rethink how articles are put together, and come up with interesting new ways to present your ideas to readers. And that, my friend, is what the rest of this article is about.

2. Be prepared to spend about 4 hours per post

How long does it take the survey respondents take to write a blog post? 

On average, 3 hours and 48 minutes. Which tallies up nicely with my own time tracking, which revealed it takes me an average of 4.5 hours to write a post.

If writing articles is one of your least favourite things to do, then what I’m about to tell you will be music to your ears. 

According to the survey, the amount of time it takes to write a blog has decreased by 22 minutes. We can’t know for sure why it’s a touch quicker compared to two years ago. Possible reasons could be:

• how efficient the writer is – their processes and way of working
• increased experience – if  the people answering the 2024 survey took it in 2013, those people will have written a lot more in that time
• AI assistance.

Now, I could just leave the whole how long does it take to write a blog discussion right there. But if you want blog success in 2025, you need to know the next bit.

Writers who invest more time researching and writing an article get stronger results.

There’s a minimal difference between those who spend 4-6 hours writing and those who spend 6 or more doing the do. But a big jump between those who only write for a few hours. Why’s this? 

The short answer is: more time (focused and well-spent) means more copywriting research time, and therefore greater depth, which in all likelihood, satisfies the questions people are asking. I’ve certainly found this to be true. Articles that take me five hours or more to research and write, tend to perform better than those that take three hours or less. 

And how much can or should you write in that time?

I don’t subscribe to the idea that word count is a ranking factor or that the reader cares how many words are on the page. Write as many words as you need to fulfil the brief and meet your readers’ needs. But, if you’re interested, the survey found that the average word count for ‘strong results’ is about 1,400.

“There is so much content out there that to really drive value, you have to go more in-depth. I find that our extended “guides” and research-driven pieces significantly outperform our traditional 1,200 word “how to” posts when it comes to traffic, engagement, and certainly leads.”- Casie Gillette, Customers.ai (taken from the ABS survey]

3. You’ll need to post more than once a month 

Blogging frequency is way down, suggesting that most writers and businesses are opting for quality over quantity. Only 13% publish multiple times per week. A significant drop compared to 11 years ago when churning out multiple articles every week was the norm.

There are a couple of reasons for this shift. 

1. A change in how the search engines work. They reward quality and have taken steps to discourage keyword stuffed articles, or posts full of links.

2. A change in writing approach. Writers, publishers, and media outlets began to understand that the higher the quality, the better the results. And improving quality means allowing more time for articles to be pulled together and (ideally) increasing how much writers are paid for their work. 

The survey also revealed that although publishing one blog per month is the most popular frequency, the once-a-monther model ain’t enough to be effective. (That’s my content plan fucked for the year.)

Only 10% of people who publish monthly see strong results. Posting daily gets the best results. But for small business owners we gotta be realistic about whether that’s actually feasible. (Spoiler: For most of us, daily just isn’t.)

So where’s the Goldilocks spot?

Well, if you really want to make your blog a high-performing part of your content marketing you should try posting fortnightly. I can see this being manageable for some small business owners, but if writing something from scratch twice or thrice a month still feels too much, here’s what I suggest.

1. Run a content audit.
2. Pick out older articles that are due for a refresh. 
3. Update one older article each month and create one new piece of content each month.

This should give you an effective posting frequency without running you into the ground, but I’ll say more on this matter in point eight.

4. Resist the AI urge 

At least when it comes to writing first drafts or complete drafts. 

The ABS data on AI and content marketing is still pretty new. Respondents have only been quizzed on their AI use in the last two surveys. (It just wasn’t a thing before 2022.) But here’s what the survey reveals so far about how writers are using AI. 

• 54% use AI to come up with blog ideas (up from 43%).
• 25% use AI to write first drafts (up from 21%).
• 6% use AI to write complete drafts (up from 3%).

That last one is the most shocking. Yes, 6% is a low total. But it’s doubled in a year.

Here are the results in full.

So the main headline is that very few writers are using AI to write first drafts or complete drafts. I’ve got my own reasons for thumbing my nose at the technology. (You can hear me talk about why, on this podcast.) But I’m just one writer. Why are my fellow copywriters keeping their writing bot-free?

Creative director and agency founder Stu Nugent was originally on my ‘to ask’ list, but he posted something great on LinkedIn that offered a slightly different view. With his permission, I’ve been able to repost his comments. (See the original post and read the comments or join the discussion.)

5. Mix up your post styles 

A magazine or any other publication would be pretty dull if all the articles followed the exact same format or had the same purpose. The same is true of business blogs. It’s important to vary the style of the articles you’re publishing. 

The most popular types of blog articles are 

• how tos
• lists
• guides
• interviews
• news and trends
• opinion pieces/columns
• roundups
• infographic only posts
• original research.

So a lot like news and media outlets really. 🤔 

‘How tos’ are most beloved by writers, probably because they’re easy. Relying solely on the knowledge the writer already has (or the knowledge of the person they’re ghostwriting for) means turnaround time is generally quick. But here’s the kicker. 

Of all the post styles, how tos aren’t the best performing with the readership.

Roundups, original research, and infographic blogs get the strongest results. Audio blogs, guides, interviews and webinar recordings are close behind.

The survey found that the most effective types of blogs are the ones writers like creating the least. Why? Because they’re really labour intensive. But they work because they’re original. 

Jay Baer, nails the impact of original research in this quote, which I’ve lifted from the original ABS write up.

“The future of successful blogging will inexorably tilt toward original research and multi-perspective roundups. Not because those formats are inherently better, but because they are harder to be disrupted by AI…Original research wins because it’s…original. No GPT can steal that thunder (until it’s sucked into the gaping maw of AI). – Jay Baer, Business Growth and CX Researcher, Author, Advisor and Speaker

Given the amount of work that goes into writing roundups and gathering original research posts, I don’t advise doing every article you post in this style. But it’s certainly worth including a couple of them each year in your editorial plan.

6. Make your posts pretty

As a wordy person, looking at the images and overall layout of a post is an afterthought. But it shouldn’t be. 

According to the study, articles that include 7-10 visual elements get better results.

Visual elements include:

• images 
• videos
• graphs
• charts
• infographics
• embedded social posts.

Ideally, you’ll include original visual elements that you created. For example, post an image you made/photographed rather than using a stock image. 

The reason visual-heavy blogs do well will be fully revealed in point nine.

7. Include original quotes as often as possible

To get original quotes you need to interview topic experts and include their comments in your article. The ABS refers to this as ‘collaborating with influencers’ but I don’t think someone has to have a million or more followers to qualify as a good interviewee. What’s more important is their knowledge, expertise, and whether they’ve got something interesting to say on your topic. 

Andy sums up the importance of including original quotes in content marketing really well.

“Journalists don’t write articles without sources, so why do bloggers write articles without contributor quotes?”

My background is in journalism. When I switched to writing articles for businesses it made complete sense to find outside sources and talk to experts. Particularly if no one in house had the knowledge or expertise I needed to give the piece authority.

And here’s the correlation when it comes to linking original sources and blog post success.

Posts that include original sources perform 24% better than articles that don’t. 

Extra thought: If you read this and thought, ‘But I am the expert’ I certainly encourage you to include your voice. But don’t overlook the experience of your peers and colleagues. 

People in your industry may well have different experiences, more experiences, crazier experiences than you. And these are  relevant, interesting to your readers and evidence that you can take a balanced, diverse and who knows, even an unpopular view  

I’m a copywriter. And in this article I’ve interviewed other copywriters. It’s not about competition, a threat to business or conversions. It’s about acknowledging your whole industry and the divergent voices in it. And you’re the authority that can bring them together. 

8. Update older articles 

If posting fortnightly is too much, you can update older articles alongside fresh stuff. Seventy-one percent of bloggers include this as part of their content strategy. Despite this being down from 74% in 2023, the good news is that content refreshes are 2.5 times more likely to report strong results. 

In my experience, updating old content is a mixed bag. Sometimes it gets great results, pushing an article up the search engine rankings and pulling in more traffic. Other times it totally tanks.

Barb Davids, who we heard from earlier, summed up the hit and miss nature of content refreshes perfectly.

If the SEO results are so variable, why bother to include this in your 2025 blogging strategy? 

Well, I think refreshing old content decreases the risk of looking like a twat.

The stuff you write about—how it works, how much it costs, how you feel about it, how it interacts with your audience’s life/perceptions—changes. Updating your content keeps it relevant and useful. And that’s the whole point of having a business blog: to provide useful and (if possible) entertaining articles so your ideal people like you the best. The result? People choose to get their stuff from you, rather than your competitors.

9. Make your articles look like a social feed

It’s undeniable that social media businesses have spent millions figuring out how to keep people on their sites. And, as Andy rightly says, if you want your blogs to be effective it’s worth taking a leaf out of the social media platform playbook. (Even if, like me, you loathe them.) 

It turns out that in 2025, blogs that do well have more in common with the social Ps than you may think. 

Here’s a side-by-side screen grab of one of Andy’s high-performing blog posts and his social feed.

They certainly have similar vibes and, I have to admit, this wasn’t something I considered before reading the results of this survey. But he has a point. So when it comes to putting your blog post together, look at what’s showing up in your stream in terms of

• the volume of copy in relation to visuals
• images – how often and of what
• videos – how often, how long, and of what
• the length of the posts.

Want an extra tip to make sure your blog posts do well? 

Experienced blog writers get great results

To round out my research, I asked Andy which of all the stats and facts he got from the 2024 survey does he think is the most useful for small business owners to know regarding running a business blog?

“One of the most interesting questions [asked in the survey] is, “How long have you been blogging?” The answer to that question on its own isn’t that interesting. But it becomes interesting when we slice up the data in another way,” said Andy.

Once you’re done…

Put one of your blog posts through my free copywriting review service. I’ll see how it measures up against the findings and hand you some ideas for bringing it in line with what’s working now. 

Yes, please. I want a free copy review.